


Mors Tua, Vita Mea

by Anellesti



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, World of Warcraft
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Liberal Use of Headcannons, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pregnancy, Why?, because I say so, yes both twins live
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 08:10:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11203944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anellesti/pseuds/Anellesti
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple job. Just clear out some bandits and retrieve some goods. In and out. Quick and easy. Things got a bit complicated when Hawke discovers a mystery woman held prisoner by said bandits. That blasted merchant didn't say anything about this.





	Mors Tua, Vita Mea

**Author's Note:**

> While this isn't my first fic, this is the first one that I have more than one chapter for. I intend to follow this through all through DA2. I haven't yet decided if I would attempt to go onto Inquisition yet, but if I did it would be in the form of a sequel. 
> 
> This is really just an attempt to satisfy my musings on how much my rogue Ardynna would kick ass in Thedas. She is my main in WoW and I have spent more hours than I care to admit sticking her into various other fictional worlds in my head and just wondering.
> 
> Also, since the game itself (DA2 not WoW) is actually just Varric telling the story of the Champion of Kirkwall to Cassandra, I'm going to assume that he took some liberties and embellished or left out various parts of the story. As such I will be taking some liberties of my own since this is not Varric's retelling of the story.
> 
> All instances of rape will only be referenced and nothing in detail. I'm absolutely shit at writing heavy stuff like that.
> 
> Disclaimer: Only character I own is my lovely Ardynna and a handful of other OCs I threw in for flavor. Here's a good rule of thumb: if you recognize them, they're probably not mine.

It was the feminine voice coming from the room that initially gave Hawke pause. He glanced back at his companions in confusion; there was supposed to only be two people in the room: their target and his right hand man. Turns out their informant was missing some information. This was the third bandit hideout that they’d cleared out in two weeks, and Hawke was tired. He was tired of being asked, more like ordered, to take care of all these up and coming gangs. He thought that was the guards’ jobs. 

The sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh drew Hawke out of his thoughts. Their mystery woman may not be part of this gang after all. He held up a hand, gesturing for the others to stay back while he crept ahead to peek through the cracked door. What he saw startled him, the woman was most definitely not with the bandits, or if she was, she must have royally pissed someone off to end up in this situation.

She was chained in the center of the room with her back to the door. Heavy chains linked to the iron collar around her neck and thick manacles at her wrists, just barely long enough to allow her to sit upright. Dark hair hung limply down her back, and he could see she wore only a loose linen shift that looked like it had seen better days. 

“This would be easier for you if you just gave in.” There was a sickly sweet quality to the leader’s voice that nauseated him. It crawled and glided over his skin causing him to shiver in disgust. The others behind him shifted slightly in discomfort. “All you need to do is submit.”

A raspy chuckle followed by a ragged cough echoed throughout the chamber. “You’ve had me for what? Almost a year now? And you still think you can break me. It’s down right adorable.” Another slap sounded and her head jerked to the side allowing him to catch a glimpse of her face. He could have sworn she looked directly at him before she turned back to the leader. 

Hawke scanned the rest of the room quickly. Where was the other man? He was supposed to be here. There! In the back corner near the other exit he stood watching the proceedings with an impassive face.

“You think you achieve something with your continued impertinence? No matter. In just a few short weeks, you will no longer be needed. Then all of your defiance will have been for naught.” Having heard enough Hawke snuck back to his companions to discuss a plan of action. 

“Anders,” He addressed the mage in an undertone barely above a whisper so as not to alert the men in the other room. “The woman in there, she looks like she needs healing and a lot of it. You help her while the rest of us take care of the men. Fenris, go for the man in the back. Keep him from escaping. Varric, cover the exits.”

Once everyone nodded their agreement, they tiptoed back to the door. A signal from Hawke had them bursting through the door, Fenris and him first followed closely by Varric and Anders. He spared not a glance at the woman on the floor as Anders dropped quickly by her side after firing an ice bolt at the other door to freeze the lock. Fenris made short work of the leader’s right hand man with the man being all brawn and no brain and therefore no match for the warrior elf. The leader was subdued quickly as well, his distraction in the woman proving useful as Hawke knocked him unconscious then tied him up. He couldn’t kill the man as his client wanted answers from him and he had some questions of his own.

“Careful,” the woman interrupted the low murmuring from Anders behind him. He looked back at her and was shocked to see she was heavily pregnant. “He’s a mage.”

Hawke gagged the leader for good measure and looked to his companions only to find Fenris and Varric staring openly at the woman and Anders working diligently over her with hands glowing blue. He was seemingly ignoring her condition for the time being, focusing instead on her injuries. Of which there were many. So many in fact, it hardly seemed there was an inch of her that was not covered in bruises or half healed welts. 

“My bags,” She wheezed. “I saw that asshole stash them over in the corner.”

Hawke wandered over to see what he could find and indeed, there were indeed several bright purple bags stowed away in a chest. He couldn’t fathom why she would want them though, they felt empty. He brought them back to her anyway, and it looked like Varric awoke from his stupor long enough to free her from her chains.

He set her bags down next to her and crouched to her level a few feet away. “I’m afraid they must have gone through your things.” He told her gently. “They feel completely empty.”

She scoffed and drug them closer to her, ignoring his warning about her missing belongings. She then picked one up seemingly at random and the plunged right in. Her whole arm disappeared right into that tiny purple bag. That gave even Anders pause as the blue light around his hands sputtered out and he gaped at her. She gave him a withering look whilst still rooting around in her bag that sent him right back to work. 

“Aha!” She must have found what she was looking for and brought out a vial filled with some sort of red liquid. She downed the whole thing before anyone could reach out a hand to stop her. She shuddered in disgust before relaxing as her injuries healed up right before their eyes. 

“That’s better. Now where did I put that. . .” She trailed off into incoherent mutterings as she went rooting around in her bags again. Hawke looked at his companions in bewilderment and saw that they weren’t processing this anomaly of a woman and better than he was. This time she pulled out what looked like a steaming bowl of stew and started eating with gusto, moaning obscenely the whole time. 

“Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had real food?” How is she managing to talk while still eating as fast as she is? “It’s been months. All they fed me was this gray sludge they dared call food. Nomi would have been appalled, horrified, outraged! Oh, how I miss that fluffball.”

“Miss, you should really slow down. You’re going to….” Anders trailed off as she finished her bowl and started licking her fingers. She glanced up at him in surprise, as though she forgot he was there. She looked around the others before her gaze landed squarely on Hawke.

“Hmm, I suppose I should thank you for not killing that bastard. I rather hoped I would get to do it myself.” Hawke started at the viciousness tone. That is not the tone of one who would simply be killing. “But first, do I get to know the names of my saviors?”

“I am Hawke,” he gestured to himself then to Anders. “The one healing you is Anders. Over there is Fenris and behind me is Varric. May we know your name, messere?”

“Ardynna, and how did you find me?”

“Well, we were actually looking for that man there. He has information that my client would like. We had no idea that you would be here.”

“Are you a mage?” Fenris growled as he stalked up to them from where he had been glowering.

She blinked at him in bewilderment before erupting into loud guffaws. She laughed so hard she couldn’t keep herself upright. Anders had to support her and looked thoroughly awkward while doing it. Eventually she calmed down enough to answer him. “Me? A mage? Pfft.” The idea sent her back into a fit of giggles that only served to annoy Fenris. 

“Nah, I’m not a mage.” She managed to get out between breaths. “I’m a rogue. Nothing magic about me except my winning personality. Thanks though, I needed a laugh.”

A muffled groan from the side of the room brought everyone’s attention back to the pressing matter at hand. 

“Looks like he’s waking up. Alright pretty boy, help me up would you? I want to kick him in the balls; it’s the least of what he deserves.” She leaned heavily on Anders, struggling to get her feet under her. Anders looked alarmed she was trying to move at all.

“Messere, you really shouldn’t be trying to move in your condition.” Hawke tried to talk her down from what she was trying to do, ignoring the leader for now. This woman, this Ardynna, was the more pressing concern. 

“By the Light, I gave you my name, you should damn well use it. I’m perfectly fine now that I got to eat some of Nomi’s cooking. That Pandaren works some real magic in the kitchen when he’s not burning all the ingredients I bring him,” None of them had any idea what she was talking about. There was that Nomi she mentioned again. Was he some kind of chef? And what was a Pandaren?

“Mess… Ardynna,” Anders started now that she had gotten to her feet and started to wobble over to the leader, dragging the healer with her all the while. One glare from her was enough to silence whatever he had to say. When she finally reached the leader, a well placed kick to the groin that had all the other males wincing finished waking him up. He curled up in a ball and groaned in pain.

“Wake up, scum.” Ardynna said in a soft sing-song voice. “Didn’t I tell you that I would get free and that this day would come? That you would regret every little thing that you did to me and those other women. That you would hurt in the ways you hurt me and more? Didn’t I describe in detail what I would do to you? But for now I need information. Information that according to my new friends here, you have. Now what would these very capable and deadly men want with a pathetic excuse of a mage like yourself, hmm?”

Hawke looked away from the growing fear in the leader’s eyes to see Ardynna looking expectantly at him. “Oh, um, his men stole a shipment of goods from Tevinter. My client would like those back.”

“You heard the man.” She turned her attention back to the man that looked every second to be growing closer to pissing himself. “His client wants to know where you stashed his stuff from this Tevinter place. Sounds like you cost him a good bit of gold.”

She ripped the gag from his mouth and still the man remained stubbornly silent. “Oh, you want to do this the hard way. I was hoping that would be the case.” She reached into another of her bags which she had tied around her waist and pulled out a small square vial filled with a viscous black liquid. 

“You see this here?” She waved it in front of his face. “This here is a specialty of mine. Agonizing poison. It won’t kill you, but you’re going to wish it had.” Ardynna reached over allowed a single drop to fall onto his shoulder before she capped it and placed it back into her bag. The screams were horrific and all she did was stare impassively at him.

“Make it stop. Please, make it stop.” The leader was writhing on the ground trying to rub the poison off but only spreading it further. “I’ll tell you anything, just make it stop!”

“Just tell me what I want to know and I’ll end it.” How could she go from sounding so vicious and cruel to sounding so sweet and kind?

He sobbed. “In the back room, it’s all in the back room.” His screams died off into pitiful whimpers.

Fenris opted to go and check it out. He broke the frozen lock with the pommel of his sword which he still had not sheathed and disappeared into the dark room. It was a minute before he called out to Hawke who was staring at Ardynna in mute horror.

“Hawke,” Fenris’ deep voice sounded from the room. “We have a problem.”

Hawke got up from where he was still crouched on the floor and followed Fenris into the back room. It was only moments before he was storming out in a rage. He grabbed the man off the floor by his collar and slammed him against the wall. He growled low and dangerous. “Slaves? You have been keeping slaves here? And to think, I had thought about ending your suffering early.”

“You know, I’m pretty sure I said something about there being others. No, no, I’m definitely sure I said something. Anyway, I got another poison in here somewhere that could prove useful.” There she went rummaging around in her bags again before she emerged with yet another vial, this one filled with a sickly green. “Hmm, this one kills long, slow, and painful. Up to you if you want to use it.”

Hawke gave her a considering look before reaching for the poison she held aloft. He turned back to the man, who had indeed pissed himself by now, and let a small drop of the poison to fall onto the bandit leader. He then turned back to the rest of the room, once again ignoring the man twitching on the ground behind him. He saw that Fenris had released the prisoners, who were filing into the room slowly. Some leaned on others, all watching the man behind him die. The warrior himself was lugging a chest into the room, the imports he had been sent here to find. Hawke looked back over to the woman, this time leaning on Varric as Anders moved over to help the other prisoners. She was pulling what looked to be a veritable feast out of those bags of hers and setting it up on a table that came from Maker knew where. Some of the stronger prisoners had carefully wandered over, enticed by the smell of fresh food and with a small wave of encouragement from the rogue, they dug in quickly. With another look over the group, Hawke saw that the prisoners were a mix of elves and human, all female, and all young, just barely out of their teens. Some were even in varying states of pregnancy, though none as far along as their mystery woman.

“All of you are eating before we leave this place,” Speaking of their mystery woman. “And no giving your portion to the pregnant ones. I’m looking at you Tanis. There’s more than plenty for everyone to have their fair share and then some.” That encouragement was all it took for the rest of the women to start eating. 

Anders slumped against the wall exhausted from healing so many in such a short time. “You there, pretty boy. How much magic did you use? Hold on, I think I have a mana potion in here somewhere that I haven’t gotten to sell yet.” She reached in one bag and shortly pulled out a glowing blue potion and handed it over to Anders who regarded it with suspicion. “Well go on then. It’ll replenish your magic. I’m not going to poison you. You are far too pretty and helpful to poison.”

With that small reassurance, he downed the potion in one go. The effect was near instantaneous, the lines of exhaustion and stress receded from his face and his shoulders relaxed even as he straightened up. He looked at Ardynna with wonder who had since turned around and hobbled over to the chest Fenris had dragged out and sat on it, groaning with relief. 

“Well, now that things are taken care of for the moment, perhaps we can get to know each other a little better while we wait for everyone to finish eating. By the Light, they need it more than I did after that week of dungeon crawling. Whew, fun times. Almost bit it a couple of times even. That’s when you know you’re having a real good time.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of boots that were bigger than the bag they came from and started putting them on. “There was this one, where was it? The Searing Gorge? The Burning Steppes? Anyway, we had to clear out this cult, the Twilight’s Hammer, from this cave system created by Deathwing himself. I got lost so many times in that stupid place, but then I always heard dragons had a much better sense of direction than most other races. Why would they need to make it logical for the mere mortals following in their steps? Now I don’t blame the Bronze dragonflight. They literally can’t help themselves. They never know when they are. But the rest of the Aspects? I mean come on! You could at least try a little. Anyway, I lost my train of thought. Where was I?”

Varric looked like he wanted to write all this down for one of his books. Hawke had to admit, it sounded like a fantastic story, but that’s all it sounded like, a story. He wasn’t sure if she was always crazy or if she was driven to it during her time in captivity, but she was certainly something. 

“Oh! Are you all done eating so soon? I would have thought you would take longer. No matter, I suppose it is time for us to go. Which direction is the nearest town?”

“Mess…” A sharp look from her had Hawke changing tactics. “Ardynna, please, we have a camp not far from here. Allow us to escort you to Kirkwall in the morning. It is nearing dark and it’s not safe to travel at night, especially not with so many sick and injured.”

“Miss Ardynna,” piped up one of the younger ones. She looked barely sixteen and was one of the pregnant ones. The thought turned his stomach. “Maybe we should go with them for now; they did free us. Just until we get to town.”

Ardynna sighed and ran a hand down her face. She pinned Hawke with an icy stare, a complete change from her easy going nature just a few minutes earlier. She looked to each of his companions then to the other girls. “If any one of you hurt any of the girls under my protection, I will make what I did to that man look like child’s play. We will come with you for now to your camp and then to this Kirkwall. Beyond that, we will see. Now,” she clapped her hands and stood up. “Let’s mosey.”

Hawke exchanged a bewildered glance with his companions while the heavily pregnant woman walked out the door with the rest trailing behind her like ducklings. With a last glance at the still twitching man on the floor, he followed after.

**Author's Note:**

> I did throw a couple references in there. Virtual cookies to those who get them. It's okay if you don't though. I only judge a little bit. Kudos and comments are much appreciated.
> 
> Credit to my good friend Captainessmax for agreeing to be my beta for the duration of this thing. As such, you can blame misspelling and grammatical bumbles on her for not catching them. Leave me out of it.


End file.
